Dr. R. SwarnkarChavda Shaktisinh2021-06-072021-06-072019https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810169664In tribal region of Gujarat women are the integral part of the farming system. They transform mostly all kinds of work. Manual seed sowing consumes much energy as well as time. For maintaining uniformity in planting seed to seed distance should be accurate. Most existing manual seed sowing devices don’t have this facility. To provide a better option, a multi-crop planter was developed with electric metering at College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Godhra for woman farmer in tribal region of Gujarat. Multi-crop planter consists of main frame, handle, furrow opener, seed tube, marker, metering mechanism, DC battery (12V), DC motor, DC speed regulator, switch and DC charger. Results were analysed using Design Expert Software (12.0.6.1). The optimum angle of penetration and angle of pull was founding statistically true. The multi-crop planter was calibrated for three different speed 1.5, 2 and 2.5 km/h, for 20 cm seed spacing of maize crop. The rpm of metering plate was found as 13, 17 and 21 respectively. For groundnut (10 cm) and gram (15 cm), the rpm of metering plate was found as 25, 33, 42 and 17, 22, 28 respectively. The average mechanical damage of groundnut seeds in developed multi-crop planter at different speed 1.5, 2 and 2.5 km/h was observed as 0.80 %, 0.85 % and 0.91 % respectively. No visible damage found in maize and gram seeds. Speed, draft and power of developed planter was found as 2.42 km/h, 8.14 kgf and 0.073 hp respectively. Theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity and field efficiency of developed planter was found as 0.145 ha/h, 0.113 ha/h and 77.86 % respectively. The Miss index of developed planter during field performance was found 2.78, 4.83, and 5.05 % for maize, groundnut, and gram respectively. Multiple index was found 11.00, 5.51, and 6.98 % for maize, groundnut, and gram respectively. Heart rate of operator-1 was found higher than the operator-2 and work pulse of operator-1 was found as 49, 46 and 48 beats/min, work pulse of operator-2 was found as 31, 35 and 38 beats/min. The payback period of developed machine was found as 53.42 hours on hour basis and 6 ha on hectare basis. The benefit cost ratio of the developed multi-crop planter was found as 14.97 over a period of 10 years of the life of the multi-crop planter.EnglishThesis